Comments on: Guardian Cryptic N° 25,589 by Pasquale

By: Huw Powell

Huw Powell — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 14:39:25 +0000

Thanks to PeterO and Pasquale.

An interesting week… the Everyman was just what I needed after a hard day’s wall building, and Rufus was just right on Monday. Tuesday came in nicely for my mood and worn intellectual abilities, too.

Then this, the sort of theme that I have seen others frown upon, as do I. I solved a scattering of the few non-themed clues, then managed the “key” rather by accident. 90 seconds at Wikipedia and I filled in all the commentators with no interest and even less learning. Didn’t really bother to finish it off due to lack of enthusiasm. But to those who enjoyed it one way or another, that’s why there are so many setters and styles and forms, right?

Then on to 25,590 and 25,591… my comments there follow from this.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 23:25:02 +0000

As has been said many, many times on this MB, obscurity is entirely in the ear of the listener.
‘Oleo’ and ‘analemma’ both come from that mysterious area of vocabulary known as science.

By: Brendan (not that one)

Brendan (not that one) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 22:54:56 +0000

I’m not really a fan of “The Don” and this puzzle didn’t change my opinion.

It ranged from the banal, (TMS which I got within 30 seconds followed by 5 minutes to fill in the related clues), to the IMHO outrageous OLEO, ANALEMMA and AMAIN. (Surely vocabulary beyond the scope of a midweek cryptic. However I did arrive at two of them with assistance from the net.)

As I’ve said before, one doesn’t need to resort to obscure vocabulary to make a crossword challenging!

Sorry but I found this dull with no “Aha” moments or chuckles.

By: Le Petomane

Le Petomane — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:39:35 +0000

I got TMS quickly and then groaned when I realised it was a cricket-themed crossword. Cricket is a big yawn for me.

What’s the difference between baseball and cricket? At the end of a baseball game you know what the score is.

By: PeterO

PeterO — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:26:16 +0000

Johnnydee – Paradoxical, isn’t it? I can only quote Chambers

best vt: to win against, outdo or outwit

worst vt: to get the better of in a contest, to defeat

Stella Trebor Cosafina & Jam Roll- You make the good point that the themed clues are accessible from the wordplay. I cannot say that I got them all that way, in the rush to get the blog out. Indeed that it is so is a tribute to Pasquale (to whom thanks for his visit; I hope he felt more at home here than on the Guardian thread).

Stella et al – there are a few more of the like in Wikipedia’s article on TMS, in the Light-hearted Style section. Incidentally, K’s D, Wikipedia disagrees as to who was holding …. that is, who was the bowler and who the batsman.

By: RCWhiting

RCWhiting — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:19:05 +0000

I have been listening to TMS for over 50 years and knew all the surnames involved.
I still do not like themes which just consist of a set of members with some common attribute.
It is possible to cleverly use a theme where in each case the theme is interpreted differently. This sets the solver the preliminary puzzle of how to apply the theme.
The latter are difficult to set, and hence, rare. There was an excellent example recently by Araucaria (I think) where the theme word was ‘potter’.

By: morpheus

morpheus — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:10:19 +0000

What Jam Roll said +1.

By: Kathryn's Dad

Kathryn's Dad — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 21:00:15 +0000

Hi Johnnydee

BEST and WORST are indeed antonyms; but they are also synonyms. ‘Best (v)’: ‘to gain advantage over or defeat’. ‘Worst (v)’: ‘to get the advantage over; defeat or beat’. I know, I was confused when I first came across it, but there are other verbs in English like ‘cleave’ that have two completely opposite meanings.

Btw, I don’t recognise your name, so if this is your first comment, welcome!

By: Johnnydee

Johnnydee — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 20:36:21 +0000

“An envelope (‘put outside’) of MCA, an anagram (messy’) of ‘mac’ in WORST (‘best’; as verbs, they are more or less synonymous).”

Ummm…late to the show but: aren’t BEST & WORST antonyms, rather than synonyms? Even after your explanation this seems – shall we say – a little off?

By: Jam Roll

Jam Roll — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 20:10:28 +0000

I enjoyed today’s puzzle, despite having woeful cricket knowledge, and not managing to finish. I think that if you enjoy themed puzzles (and I often do), you just have to accept that some puzzles will be a bit inaccessible. It’s a complement to Pasquale’s very fair clues that I managed to get ‘Agnew’ and ‘Vaughan’ from the wordplay alone.